Volkswagen Group, operating profit sharply down in the first half year: -33% to EUR 6.7 billion. Target revised downward

In the first half of the year, the Volkswagen Automotive Group posted6.7 billion euro operating profit, 33% lower than in the first half of 2024. Sales fell 0.3% to EUR 158 billion.

The Volkswagen Group (which controls brands such as Audi, Seat, Cupra, Skoda, Lamborghini and Ducati), to name but a few, also revised downwards its financial forecasts for the year, taking into account the impact of tariffs on profitability, in light of the challenges of political uncertainty, expanding trade restrictions and geopolitical tensions, intensifying competition, volatile commodity, energy and foreign exchange markets, and stricter emission requirements.

Sales were stable: 4.36 million vehicles sold in the first half of 2025, slightly higher than in the first half of 2024 (4.34 million vehicles. As for results by regional market, growth in South America (+19%), Western Europe (+2%) and Central and Eastern Europe (+5%) more than offset expected declines in China (-3%) and, mainly due to tariffs, in North America (-16%). The drop in operating profit, says a Vag note, is in fact largely due to the high costs resulting from the increase in US tariffs (EUR 1.3 billion), restructuring provisions at Audi, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Cariad (EUR 0.7 billion), and CO₂ emissions regulation expenses. Negative mix effects also weighed on the result, e.g. due to a higher share of fully electric vehicles, as well as price and exchange rate effects. Before the increase in US tariffs and restructuring, the operating margin stood at 5.6%. At the beginning of April, US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariffs on global automotive imports to the US, on top of the existing 2.5% tariff applied to most countries. While the United Kingdom and Japan subsequently reached an agreement to reduce the tariffs to 10% and 15% respectively, the European Union has not yet come to an understanding.

Vehicle orders in Western Europe increased by 19 per cent. The main drivers were new models of all drive types, such as the VW ID.7 Tourer, Cupra Terramar, Škoda Elroq, Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche 911 (the icon of the Zuffenhausen-based manufacturer which is suffering from the all-in on electrics of the best-selling Macan). Particularly strong was the order intake for all-electric vehicles, with an increase of 62 per cent.

The Vw group expects sales growth in line with last year, with a group operating margin of between 4 per cent and 5 per cent. It had previously forecast sales growth of up to 5 per cent and a gross operating margin of between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent.